CareerMash spreads the word about the endless possibilities of today’s tech careers. We want everyone to get excited about how cool technologies are bringing innovation to everything – environment, health care, entertainment, shopping, mobility, our social lives and more. And it’s tech professionals who make all this happen.

Today’s tech careers are interesting, fun, cool, and creative. They pay well, are in high demand and mash up tech with anything you imagine! Thanks to constant innovation, the uses of tech continue to expand. As a result, the types of tech-related careers are expanding too. It’s all very exciting but the ever increasing choice of careers can also be confusing!

CareerMash is here to demystify tech by helping students, teachers, guidance counsellors, parents - and anyone else who is interested - understand all the different ways the world is being changed by tech and the new career opportunities these changes are creating.

Part of our goal is to provide easy-to understand information on CareerMash.ca that allows young people to match their personal interests and academic strengths to a tech-related career.But CareerMash also extends well beyond our website. We arrange inspiring visits to high schools by CareerMash Role Models who are tech professionals representing a wide variety of sectors. Every semester, our 70+ Role Models share their career stories with teenagers, providing personalized insights into what it’s like working in tech. And, the program is free to all schools!

As well, CareerMash organizes a variety of special events, info sessions, panels and workshops on tech careers for students or educators. These events also give educators the tools and information they need to help students explore tech-related careers and choose post-secondary educational paths that will best prepare them for those careers.

CareerMash is part of the Talent division of the Information Technology Association of Canada (ITAC). ITAC is the voice of the Canadian information and communications technology (ICT) industry and is a strong advocate for the expansion of Canada's innovative capacity for strengthened productivity across all sectors through the strategic use of technology. As a non-for-profit organization they fully rely on the support of their 300+ members that span from ICT consulting services to software and electronic content.

These organizations have joined together to solve their pressing need to hire professionals in the new kinds of technology roles described on CareerMash. They support CareerMash because tech careers are critical to Canada’s success in the knowledge economy of the 21st century.

As demand for these workers grows, Canada is experiencing an alarming 30% to 40% decline in information and communications technology (ICT)-related post-secondary enrolments and a historically low female enrolment of 25%. College and university ICT-related programs have empty seats because high school students perceive tech jobs as being nerdy, boring and difficult. Students, educators and parents often don’t know how today’s careers mash up tech with anything you imagine in cool and creative ways. CareerMash was launched to change these perceptions and help increase post-secondary enrolments in tech programs to ensure Canada has the skills it needs to be competitive.

Yes! Gender is the most critical diversity issue in the tech field. For as long as anyone can remember, women have held only about a quarter of information and communications technology (ICT) jobs.

This needs to change. Tech employers need to hire and promote more women, and not just for social equity. Female participation is good for business. Limited female participation in tech means limited access to the skills and talents of half the population. At a time when information technology is about collaboration and social intelligence, women have a lot to offer. Women, as consumers and business leaders, increasingly make the technology buying decisions. So it makes sense for tech employers to hire smart, creative women.

A big part of the problem is that not enough young women choose tech careers. While they make up half of the workforce, female enrolment in tech programs is low at 25%. Why does this problem exist? Researchers have found that young women often hear, from an early age, that tech is geeky and not for them so they avoid educational paths that would prepare them for roles in tech-related fields. But as CareerMash shows, the future is in interesting, fun, creative, cool and social mashed-up hybrid jobs that combine tech with leadership and every imaginable field. A key part of the CareerMash mission is to get this message out to girls and increase their participation in tech.

There are many ways to participate in CareerMash. Organizations can become corporate members. Tech professionals can join our Role Model and Online Mentoring program to inspire students. Educators can book Role Models for class visits and have their class participate in our Online Mentoring with CareerMash program. Students can submit guest blogs for our consideration and “like” us on Facebook to spread the word amongst their friends. For more information on any of our initiatives or how you can help get the message out contact CareerMash at careermash@ccict.ca.